Liberal Arts Courses

LENG-450

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-111

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

This course takes students into the political, personal, raucous, powerful, and genre-defining process of creating original performance poetry. Slam poetry (the competitive part of spoken word) is the revolutionary heart of the modern performance poetry movement. The course will help students discover and sculpt their own poetic voice and unique stage performance; write and speak with more clarity and power; better manage fears around public speaking; and create deeper, more honest connections with an audience. We will explore historical contexts of spoken word and investigate hip-hop and rap, stand-up comedy, traditional poetic form, lyric writing, dramatic monologue, and more. Classes include weekly writing prompts, in-class open mics, visiting artists, vocal exercises, and an end-of-semester performance poetry showcase. All writers and performers, regardless of experience, are welcome.

LENG-452

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Spring Only

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-450

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

This advanced workshop expands and evolves the students' experience in the world of slam, spoken word, and performance poetry. Students have the opportunity to examine and create group pieces, conceptual art, unusual poetic forms, and effective slam competitions strategy. Students will work within a wide variety of poetic styles, from hip-hop to confessional, and examine a broader spectrum of performers. Students have some automy in designing their own projects and reading lists. Students will also engage in experiencing, analyzing, and further developing their own unique artistic compositions. Guest performers and teachers will be featured and the semester will culminate with an end-of-semester poetry showcase.

LENG-460

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-111

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

In this course, students explore various styles of poetry, spoken word and improvisation, utilizing a variety of cultural and literary art forms. Students learn about the primary influences of African American writers and the shaping of particular literary and musical genres around language usage. Students explore the spoken word tradition from the Harlem Renaissance to early street poetry to hip-hop, spoken word, and freestyle. Students examine the way spoken word artists have connected their words with music, and especially with the blues. Students study the works of great American artists and scholars, including Langston Hughes, Jill Scott, Tupac Shakur, Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets, Michael Eric Dyson, Angela Davis, Cornell West, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, James Brown, Alvin Poussant, and others. Students also write and perform their own original creations, developing their own style as writers and performers of spoken word art.

LENG-P353

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Spring Only

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-201

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

This course explores the most popular genres of children's literature—fantasy fiction, poetry, and picture books—to lead students on their own creative paths towards the unique discipline of writing for children, which involves an awareness of multiple audiences, rigorous aesthetics, and pedagogy, along with the more common artistic considerations of authors. Students are exposed to a range of works, including classics like Lewis Carroll's nonsense literature and Beatrix Potter's works, to more modern literature, such as Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy, Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey's nonsense literature, and Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Music designed to accompany these literary works will also be studied, including Dan Zanes, Mika Pohjola, and Natalie Merchant. Academic reading includes theoretical work by J.R.R. Tolkien and Maurice Sendak, among others. Students will produce one chapter and an outline for a novel, plus poems and/or picture book drafts, depending on students' preferences, and music may be included as an element in the overall projects. Proficiency as an illustrator is not required.

LENG-P387

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall Only

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

This course is designed to provide critical and creative approaches to one of the most neglected, yet rich, areas of African American studies: children's literature and culture. Students will explore the artistic, cultural, political, and social significance of past and present African American children's literature, beginning with folktales from Africa and African Americans, moving through the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Era, and ending with present day material. This class will also focus on some of the contemporary issues, including the importance of physical appearance—and particularly hair—in the black community, the portrayal of slavery, and of course, the expression and exploration of black musical heritage. As a capstone, the final project will be a research paper so that students can make their own discoveries about this emerging field of study.

LENG-P490

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-201

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

FUSION Magazine Seminar and Practicum provides students with advanced literary and editorial skills, as well as the hands-on experience of editing and producing a contemporary magazine for creative arts and ideas. Students develop their creative abilities in writing, film reviewing, editing, interviewing, and web and video production fundamentals related to FUSION. Students explore the creative genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, interviews, contemporary issues, drama, poetry, film, photography, artwork, and design. The course provides a variety of creative collaboration opportunities for students, including those among writers, editors, visual artists, musicians, and producers. Students work on FUSION Magazine: soliciting pieces, editing, working with authors, and more. Students also work on FUSION's ongoing and newest projects, including City FUSION, pieces focused on urban living; and the Translation Initiative, a collaboration where students write native language to English translations of creative works. Students learn to use software, for basic production of online publications. Students learn to write and edit for print and for the web, and to make decisions about the design and production of both a print-based and web-based magazine.

LFRN-151

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: None

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

The emphasis of this course is on language acquisition: developing a basic level of oral and written comprehension and a certain degree of self-expression. The study of elementary French grammar will be fundamental to this class. Note: This course is not available to students for whom French is one of their primary languages and/or primary languages of instruction.

This course is a continuation of LFRN-151. The emphasis of the course is on continued language acquisition and on developing more advanced oral and written comprehension and self-expression. Students will expand their knowledge of grammar which is a fundamental aspect of this class. Note: This course is not available to students for whom French is one of their primary languages and/or primary languages of instruction.

In this course, students acquire oral and written communication skills in French. The topics presented are representative of French society and the Francophone world, and the communicative tasks are taught within the framework of authentic situations. Students learn to speak, listen, and write in personal, public, professional, and educational situations that simulate real life. Observation and reflection are at the core of the learning process. Students observe linguistic phenomena in the material provided and learn to deduct grammar rules from it. The true appropriation of language emanates from the students themselves. This class takes a hands-on and real-life approach to language acquisition. Note: This course is not available to students for whom French is one of their primary languages and/or primary languages of instruction.In this course, students acquire oral and written communication skills in French. The topics presented are representative of French society and the francophone world, and the communicative tasks are taught within the framework of authentic situations. Students learn to speak, listen, and write in personal, public, professional, and educational situations that simulate real life. Observation and reflection are at the core of the learning process. Students observe linguistic phenomena in the material provided and learn to deduct grammar rules from it. The true appropriation of language emanates from the students themselves. This class takes a hands-on and real-life approach to language acquisition.

LFRN-454

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall Only

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LFRN-353 or required placement test score

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

This course enables students to acquire advanced oral and written communication skills. The topics presented are representative of French society and the Francophone world, and the communicative tasks are taught within the framework of authentic situations. Students learn to speak, listen, and write in personal, public, professional, and educational situations that simulate real life. Students learn to speak about people and events, to read authentic French texts and more. Observation and reflection are at the core of the learning process. Students will further expand their knowledge of grammar---syntax, verb tenses, etc.---and apply what they have learned in previous courses. Students observe linguistic phenomena in the material provided and learn to deduct grammar rules from it. The true appropriation of language emanates from the students themselves. This class takes a hands-on and real-life approach to language acquisition. Note: This course is not available to students for whom French is one of their primary languages and/or primary languages of instruction.

LHIS-202

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall Only

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-111

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

Nationalism has compelled people to die in the name of national symbols or patrimony, even in an age defined as global or even postnational. What are the causes and sources of nationalism, and why does nationalism continue to be relevant today? In this course, students explore the social history of nationalism, with particular emphasis on the role of music and musicians in nationalist movements. Students examine competing explanations for nationalism, apply these theories to contemporary and historical examples, and reflect on the role of musicians in civil society.

LHIS-203

3 credit(s)

Course Chair: Simone Pilon

Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Required of: None

Electable by: All

Prerequisites: LENG-111

Department Code: LART

Location: Boston Campus

This course examine the origins of animist, Hindu, and Buddhist thinking. Students also explore early Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and examine the relationship among these monotheistic traditions. Students also will consider Confucian, Taoist, and Greek philosophy (pre-Socratic and Platonic) though the study of primary sources and historical context and the exchange that occurs with cross-cultural contact.